Oven rack



1935- 4 o. M. ANDERSON 2,011,189

OVEN RACK Filed March 6, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 0scarMAndersoz;

Aug. 13, 1935. Q ANDERSON. 2,011,189

OVEN RACK Filed March 6, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 M W flacarmndersan Patented Aug. 13, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OVEN RACK Application March 6, 1933, Serial No. $9,750 4 Claims. (01. 126-339) The present invention relates to ovens, and moreparticularly to the racks or shelves and the supports therefor upon which the foodstuffs to be baked in the oven are supported.

It'is an object of this invention to provide an improved device of this character in which the racks may be freely and easily slid into and out of the oven.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved device of this character in which the rack cannot be accidentally or in-- advertently entirely withdrawn from its supporting structure. However, the structure of the racks and their supports is of such a nature that the racks may be, when desired, completely separated from their supports. I

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved supporting structure for the racks which may be detachably mounted in the oven and. from which the racks themselves may be quickly and readily removed. Such an arrangement admits of the quick and thorough cleaning of the racks and their supports.

Other objects will be in part obvious, and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein I have shown, for illustrative purposes, one embodiment which the present invention may take,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an oven with my improved device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the guide- Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the supporting plates;

Fig.4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of my improved rack, and showing the'guideways therefor in dotted lines and broken away. Referring more particularly to the drawings, A- generally indicates an oven, B my improved rack, and C generally indicates the supporting structure for supporting a plurality of the racks B within the oven. The oven A, a portion only of which is shown, may be part of an electric range, a gas range, or other cooking apparatus. The oven may be of any desired size and shape, and is provided with the sides l and H, top l2, and bottom IS. The oven is provided with the usual opening through which foodstuffs to be baked may be introduced and withdrawn from the oven.

The rack or shelf B comprises a substantially rectangular frame having the sides l4 and 15 which are joined together by means of the front strip 16 and rear strip H. A plurality of spaced apart parallelly disposed rods l8 have their opposite ends secured to the'front strip 16 and the rear strip 11, respectively. A bracing strip l9 may be secured to the rods l8 intermediate the ends thereof. and a reinforcing bar 20 may be secured to the rods l8 at points intermediate the strip l9 and the rear strip H. The opposite free ends of the bar 20 are bent rearwardly at substantially right angles to the main portion of the bar so as to provide bent-over portions 2| which may be secured to the sides l4 and I of the frame, respectively.

The supporting structure C comprises a pair of plates 22 only one of which is shown in the drawings. These plates 22 are similar in construction, and a description of one is thought to be sufiicient. Each plate 22 may be formed from a sheet of metal, or other suitable material, and may be given any desired size or shape. Each sheet, adjacent the upper corners thereof, is provided with keyhole slots 23 adapted to receive hooks 24 carried by the respective sides of the oven. Only one of these hooks is illustrated. Each plate 22 has mounted thereon a plurality of spaced apart guideways 25. These guideways 25 are substantially channel-shaped, and the bot tom of each guideway has struck therefrom at a plurality of spaced apart points tongues 26 which are adapted to be received by corresponding openings in the plates 22. As may be seen-from an inspection of Figs. 4 and 5, these tongues 26, after being received by the openings 22 in the plates, are clinched over so as to securely anchor the guideways to the plates. These guideways are similar in structure, except that the guideways shown at the left of Fig. 1 are lefthand guideways and those shown at the right of Fig. l are right-hand guideways. The forward portion of the upper flange 21 of each guideway is cutaway, as at 28, and the lower flange 29 of of over the hooks 24. The bottom 32 is then positioned upon the flanges 3|. A rack B may then be inserted in a pair of selected opposed guideways by elevating the front portion of the rackB and then threading the rear corners of the rack through the cutaway portions 28 of the When it is desired to remove a rack from the oven, it may he slid forwardly in the guideways until the bar 20 engages the rear edges of the lugs 30, as shown in Fig. 1. Further outward movement of the rack is thus prevented until the front portion of .the rack is raised, as described later. It will be observed from Fig. 1 that the distance from the rear edge of the lug 30 to the forward edge of the flange 21 is le s than thedistance from the bar 20 to the rear strip I? so that, in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the rear portion of the rack may not swing upwardly out of the guideways but will be held therein,

' due to its engagement with the under surfaces of the upper flanges 21 of the guideways. In order to completely withdraw the rack from the oven, it is merely necessary to tilt the forward portion of the rack upwardly, to a slight extent, until the bar 20 clears the lugs 30. The rack B may then be drawn outwardly until it is entirely free of the guideways..

It is observed that since the rack B is only tilted to a slight extent the container having the foodstuff therein may be withdrawn with the rack without upsetting tli foodstuff. The diameter of each of the sides M and 15 of the rack is less than the distance between the inner surfaces of the flanges 21 and 29 of the respective guideways, so that the rack has free sliding movement in said guideways. It is noted that with this structure the rack may not be accidentally fully withdrawn from its guideways, but it is necessary to tilt the rack to a slight extent to effect the entire withdrawal of the rack from its guideways. It is also apparent that the supporting structure for the rack B may be quickly and easily removed from the oven to permit of cleaning.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, an oven having a pair of opposed sides, a pair of opposed guideways respectively mounted on said sides, a rack adapted to be removably supported in said guideways and abutment in one partly withdrawn position of the rack, being adapted to abut one another and the rear end of the rack at the same time engaging the under surface of the upper flange.

2. In combination, a pair of channel-shaped guideways arranged with their open portions in opposed relation, the upper flange of each guideway terminating short of the forward edge of the guideway, each guideway having a lug disposed in the open portion thereof at the forward end of the open portion, a rack having a pair of opposed side strips adapted to have sliding movement in the open portions of the respective guideways, and an abutment on each side strip and spaced forwardly from the rear end of said strip, the distance between each lug and the forward edge of the corresponding upper flange being less than the distance between each abutment and the rear end of the corresponding side strip.

3. In combination, a pair of opposed horizontally alined guideways each having an upper and a lower flange, the upper flange of each guideway having its forward portion cut away, the lower flange of each guideway having an upstanding lug spaced forwardly from the forward edge of the upper flange, a rack having side strips slidably received between the flanges of the respective guideways, and an abutment on each of said side strips and spaced forwardly from the rear end of its side strip, the respective lugs and abutments adapted to engage when the rack approachcs the limit of its outward movement, said lugs, abutments and upper flanges being so formed and arranged that when said lugs and abutments-are in engagement the rear ends of the side strips of the rack will be confined between said flanges on the guideways.

4. In combination, an even having a pair of opposed sides, a pair of opposed parallel guideways respectively mounted on said sides, and a rack adapted to be removably supported in said guideways and having a rear end corresponding in width to the distance between said guideways, the opposite sides of said rear end engaging in said guideways, said rack having an abutment spaced forwardly from said rear end, each of said guideways having spaced apart upper and lower flanges, said lower flange having an abutment adjacent its forward end and said upper flange having its forward end terminating short of said last mentioned abutment, the distance between said last mentioned abutment and the forward end of said upper flange being less than the distance between the rear end of said rack and said first mentioned abutment, said abutments, in one partly withdrawn position of the rack, being in engagement and the rear end of said rack, at the same time, engaging the under surfaces of the upper flanges of the opposed guideways.

OSCAR M. ANDERSON. 

